Five years after its entry into the World Trade Organization, China's need of an anti-monopoly law has become an imperative. Such a law is of vital importance to both the country's development of a socialist market economy and its integration into the world economy.

China has made significant progress on anti-monopoly legislation this year. The draft of the law had been submitted to the National People's Congress for first hearing in June and now the draft is expected to receive a second hearing early next year. Clearly, the pace of anti-monopoly legislation, which began more than a decade ago, has been accelerated.

The law can greatly assist the building of a market economic infrastructure by protecting fair competition, preventing and checking monopolistic behaviour and maintaining an orderly market place.

According to the draft, the law will prohibit monopolies from wielding their market status to curb competition, fix prices, enforce package sales and refuse or enforce trade. A special commission is being planned to deal with anti-monopoly issues.

In spite of China's market-oriented reforms since the late 1970s, insufficient reform of the State sectors is still adding to the difficulties of this legislative process.

For instance, key industries, such as telecommunications, railway, electric power are monopolized by a few State-owned enterprises, which always make use of their advantageous status to enrich themselves at the expense of consumers' legitimate rights.

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